Can An Astronomer Have Faith In The Bible?

Last updated on: December 22, 2010 at 9:47 pm by Jeffrey L. Falick

Can An Astronomer Have Faith In The Bible? 2010-12-22T21:47:00-05:00 Jeffrey L. Falick

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I guess when your state hosts a museum of creationism and is about to help fund some kind of wacky Noah’s ark theme park, you might be a little over-sensitive. That’s clearly part of what led the folks at the University of Kentucky to rule out C. Martin Gaskell for a position as director of their observatory.

Now he’s suing. According to the New York Times:

Dr. [Moshe] Elitzur [who was involved in hiring decisions], in his deposition, said he feared that bad publicity could arise from bringing Dr. Gaskell to the university, which is less than 100 miles from the Creation Museum, in Petersburg, Ky.

“There’s no way you can avoid the headline in The Herald-Leader saying ‘U.K. hires a creationist for public outreach,’ ” Dr. Elitzur remembered saying.

Well that would be a problem if it were true. The fact is that it’s a little hard to figure out this Gaskell fellow. He has a fascinating piece online called “Modern Astronomy, the Bible, and Creation” that he wrote while a professor at the University of Texas at Austin (my alma mater – Hook ‘em ‘Horns!).

From a quick reading, it’s clear that he’s no young earth creationist. I don’t agree with any of his conclusions and the man could sure do with some exposure to biblical scholarship. Yet none of that means he’s unfit to run an observatory. I don’t know whether he deserved to be hired or not. I do know that his beliefs don’t necessarily have to be a problem.

I’m well used to the fact that very intelligent people can hold very irrational beliefs. Fortunately, most scientists do not. As long as the few who do put empirical evidence before before bible stories, then we can’t hold their ludicrous beliefs against them. The fact that he was explicitly asked about his religion during his interview opened up a huge, unnecessary can of worms. Open cans of worms always spew forth lawyers.

I recommend you read Gaskell’s piece. It could serve as a case study of how someone with a highly developed scientific intellect overextends biblical apologetics in order to maintain a faith that there are really no contradictions at all.

Blog Entries

Evolution and Creationism

Fundamentalist Christianity

Science and Reason

Previous Post

December 22, 2010

More DADT Nonsense

Next Post

December 23, 2010 Toys For Teaching Evolution

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Blog Entries

Select a Month January 2017 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 March 2015 December 2014 February 2014 December 2013 October 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 September 2012 August 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

To whom is the letter of 2 John addressed?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The seven churches The church at Ephesus Gaius The chosen lady and her children